Wedding box #2

Spent 1 1/2 hrs tonite on her. Cut all the #0 biscuts for the miters. Glued and clamped. Waited a little for the glue to dry and started cutting the mitered key slots. If you do even just a few small boxes and like this detail- It’s worth building the jig! After the keys are cut, just add a dab of glue and push them in. – These were left over Red wood.

My jig is set up for only 2 cuts, one end will give you a 90(straight) cut, flip the jig around and you get a left tilt 20 Degree. It adds a beautiful detail to a small- med size box. Depending on the stain i choose, hope they are fairly visible because of Cherry/Red Wood contrast?Does anyone have tips on how to remove the burn marks(router) left in the finger handels? It’s a pain and impossible to get with sandpaper and my fat fingers..

By the way- i screwed myself for using the 1/8” masonite i had laying around as a bottom. I precut the dado for 1/4”. Found a decent piece of 1/4” Birch ply- hope that works..
Thanks for looking.. James

To remove the router burn marks you should raise the bit a sixteenth and make a finishing pass. If that’s not possible then you can paint the finger groove black and give the box some contrast or even use gold leaf. Gold leaf would be great if they questioned the fact that you didn’t give a cash as well. You could always retort “Do you have any idea how much 24K gold COSTS these days”!

Can’t wait to see it when it’s done, are you doing drawers and slides on the inside?

I love the design of the box. I can use the splined miter as a way to hide the plywood edges. How did you make the shape of the lid? I can see a router for the roundover but the center that tapers down….i really like. Any advice to this new woodcrafter would be great. I am thinking of making my 15 yr old daughter a nice keepsake box fror Christmas when she visits.

-- my mind is constantly racing..... but it hasnt came in 1st place yet

The lid is not cut off yet. There were 3 dados cut in the sides. 1 for the bottom, 1 for the raised panel lid, and 1 more wide one under the lids dado. Its that last dado that is the most important. The table saw will cut right in the middle of it to cut the lid off. Then use some thin pieces to fill in and glue (1/4” x3/8”) all around inside of that dado. This makes a “seat” for the lid to rest on.
A neat trick i read, is to raise the table saw blade just a hair before cutting through the box. Make the cut on all 4 sides. Then use a razor knife to detach it and your all set. I might have it done today- so i will post more. Thanks. James